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You’ve probably noticed that our blog and social media sites have been quiet over the past few weeks. The mission of our coalition has changed a bit. We have been collaborating with the Department of Public Health on the 100 Babies Project, and our work at Georgia Pathway will continue to inform the work of the 100 Babies Project. We hope to complement the work of the 100 Babies Project by narrowing our focus to parent engagement and parent education within social media. This new venture will begin next Monday, June 16th.

On Mondays, we will feature a family, either a family who uses ASL or a family who uses LSL (listening and spoken language). We will give the child’s background – age, age of identification, hearing status, modality, etc. Then, Tuesday through Friday, we will provide information that could help that family access language and services to help their child on a path to grade-level reading.

Monday: We will share “a day in the life” of a featured family.
Tuesday: We will share research relating to the child and family featured on Monday.
Wednesday: We will provide a language lesson that the featured family could use at home.
Thursday: We will feature a service provider, locally and nationally, that might benefit the family of the week.
Friday: We will answer common questions that someone might have who is new to the deaf/hard of hearing community. This will be entitled, “What in the world?”

If you would like to feature research, a language lesson, a service provider, or if you have a question you would like us to answer, please email us at gapathway@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!

Through a partnership between myON and Get Georgia Reading: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, all educators, librarians, students, and parents in Georgia have free access to more than 5,000 enhanced digital books from now throughAugust 30th. These digital books, with flexible reading scaffolds, are the core content of myON’s award-winning personalized literacy environment with embedded tools and metrics to support and track student reading growth. During this free summer trial, all readers will share a single account that provides unlimited access to myON’s digital books, without the personalization elements.

To learn more about how to take full advantage of this resource, watch this video.

More about the 100 Babies Project, in the words of former Project Manager, Dr. Jessica Bergeron:

“Georgia Pathway started off as a community of practice for teachers, teachers who serve children who are deaf and hard of hearing. It started in June of 2011 in an effort to provide online support for teachers and improve their practices around literacy. We are the only group to combine LSL (Listening & Spoken Language), state-run ASL (American Sign Language)/bilingual programs, with county comprehensive programs with the common goal of grade level reading. We are the only group of our kind. Our 3rd grade goal is the same as our governor’s, which is that all children will be on a path to 3rd grade reading by 2020. Once we became a coalition in 2012-2013, we were working together to examine research-based practices that promote literacy development. Then, we recognized that we couldn’t be successful if we didn’t also target the system from birth to three. We then had a coalition meeting in June 2013. At that meeting, we made an effort to target the system, all of the people within the system instead of just teachers. This included policymakers, pediatricians, Department of Public Health, et al. Many great things happened at that meeting, but one of the best things that happened at that meeting was the creation of action teams. The Funding and Policy Action Team included Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald who is the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health in Georgia. She declared at that meeting that the next 100 babies who are diagnosed with hearing loss in Georgia would be on a path to grade level reading. She committed herself to making the changes that were needed to make it happen.

The mission of the 100 babies project is to create an efficient system that ensures that all children will be on a path to grade level reading. At the beginning of the project, the coalition started at the beginning of the literacy process, from pre-birth medical visits to 3rd grade reading, examining all interactions that would promote language growth, which is the foundation for literacy. It was an investigation of all parties that contribute to a child’s birth to literacy plan. It helped the coalition identify gaps and system failures. The gaps were places where issues arose that weren’t owned by any particular agency. The agencies have taken responsibility for their part. We are committed to staying six months ahead of the process. The 100 Babies is a first-run, testing the working system in place in Georgia for babies birth to 3rd grade. The breakdown of the project begins with investigation, then helping agencies problem solve and trouble shoot, and finally filling in the gaps. For each transaction, the focus is twofold. What capacity are we building in parents to empower their children? And how is this step building that child’s language?”

Stay tuned for more information about how you can get involved in this groundbreaking work!

So you were a little bogged down with the back to school chaos that ensues every year at about this time, and you couldn’t make it to GA Hands & Voice’s event?

No problem.

We checked in with their Executive Director, Terri Patterson for an inside scoop of what we missed…

Georgia Hands & Voices 5th Annual Back to School BASH

With over 70 families and professionals (deaf educators, administrators, interpreters, SLPs, Audiologists, students in higher education, GA Pines Parent Advisors to name a few) in attendance, 19 exhibitors, 8 teen panelists, 7 session presenters, 3 sponsors and one very dynamic guest speaker: we believe the Georgia Hands & Voices 5th Annual Back to School BASH at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf on August 17 was a great success.

YOUR TEENAGER’S SELF-ESTEEM

We were honored to have Mr. Ken Levinson who crossed the country to come and talk about why and how teenagers develop positive, healthy self-esteem. Mr. Levinson is the Co-Founder and Lead Counselor of the AG Bell Association’s Leadership Opportunities for Teens (LOFT) Program. Mr. Levinson focused his talk on building healthy self-esteem in children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, regardless of their communication modes or methods. “I AM GREAT” spoke to the different characteristics that are vital to developing confidence and positive self-esteem in ALL teenagers and took it further to address the unique needs of teens who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. He emphasized the necessity of allowing kids to develop independence by experiencing everything and taking chances, making mistakes and learning from them. Also, he also shared the importance of teens in developing a positive attitude and a behavior of respect. Teens need to get involved in groups that help develop stronger bonds; find good role models, particularly those that are D/HH; set expectations high and learn to laugh at themselves.

TEEN PANEL

We were also lucky enough to have him facilitate our teen panel which closed the day down providing great wisdom and enlightenment. Mr. Levinson’s humor and honesty really drew out the panelists, who ranged from “almost” 13 through 19 years of age. They represented diverse cultural backgrounds, academic settings, communication choices and personality characteristics, while finding quite a bit of common ground and experiences. It was really thrilling to see them become so animated up on the stage and express themselves with such honesty, especially after sharing how nervous they were in the beginning. From one 14 year old boy sharing the story of losing his implant off of a rollercoaster (of course, the Executive Director’s son) to a 15 year old sharing the benefits of sign language “because you can communicate with a mouth full of food,” they let their personalities shine. They talked about wanting to go to college, wanting to become a teacher, wanting to develop their skills in mechanics. Mr. Levinson continually emphasized that our children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing can be ANYTHING they want to be and the importance of having positive Deaf and Hard of Hearing role models. This was echoed by our audience during their questions and comments for the panelists. I think this group is well on their way to doing just that!

Along with these empowering presentations to our larger group, we also had 5 breakout sessions during the day. We covered topics ranging from “Intro to ASL” presented by a couple, Karmon, who works with the Georgia Parent Infant Network for Educational Services program (GA PINES) and Michael Cain, an American Sign Language Instructor at Georgia Perimeter College, who are both Deaf; to “Transition to What? What Happens After High School” by Becky Sills, a Director of VR Services. To add to the mix, G.R.E.A.T.D.A.Y. Inc. who provides mental health resources for the Deaf community presented; our Board President, Carianne Muse, who is also a member of the Joint Commission on Infant Hearing (JCIH), presented “What Should You Expect from Early Intervention Services” addressing the recently published set of JCIH recommendations on Early Intervention Services and how they relates to the current services provided in our state. Our final session choice, “Your Child’s Journey Towards Graduation: What You Need to Know,” was presented by Dr. Kenney Moore, the Director of the Division of State Schools and Dr. Frank Nesbit, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Consultant for the Department of Education. The brain trust at this event was unbeatable!

SIB SHOPS

So, while our wonderful volunteers from the Georgia Perimeter College Sign Language Interpreter Training Program, GA PINES and the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf provided a safe, fun and accessible environment for our children and the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project put on a Sib Shop for the 7-9 year old hearing siblings, the teens and adults were filled with knowledge and had an opportunity to connect as a community. Add in the exhibitor break time, and some lunch and it made for a full, satisfying day.

PRAISE FOR THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASH

A few of the comments on the evaluations of the event: “Incredibly brave, bright, insightful young people!” “It was needed and nice to socialize with other parents.” “Super fun!!!” “They were able to answer a lot of questions.”

SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

We are grateful for the sponsorship provided by Georgia Relay, Active Life Hearing Loops and Cochlear Americas. We also had a large diverse group of exhibitors at our event:

I am grateful to all of the families in Georgia that feel as passionate as I do about ensuring our children get what they need when they need it to be successful, and continually reinforce why Hands & Voices is a valuable organization and community in our state.

WHAT’S NEXT AT GA HANDS & VOICES?

So, as we move forward with the 2013-14 school year, ensuring that our families of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children have the resources, the connections and the tools they need to empower their children to be successful, academically, socially and personally, in order to reach their full potential, so that they grow up to become who and whatever they dream and aspire to be. Be watching for more info on our next event: “The Unique Communication Considerations for Your Child’s IEP/IFSP: What You Need to Know!” on October 5, 2013 at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf from 8:30am to 1:00pm. For more info and to RSVP please send an email to rsvp@gahandsandvoices.org or info@gahandsandvoices.org. Check out our website, www.gahandsandvoices.org .

Visual Phonics is an evidence-based strategy to teach sound-letter associations and phonics to children who have no access to sound or low levels of speech perception. It’s been effective as a supplement to general education reading programs. It is not a sign system; it’s a supplemental tool to help children see the sound and give clues about how it’s articulated.

The Center on Literacy and Deafness (CLAD) will offer free training for GA teachers (limited availability). See flyer for more information.